Boling.
So that by this intelligence we learn
The Welshmen are dispersed; and Salisbury
Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed
With some few private friends upon this coast.

North.
The news is very fair and good, my lord:
Richard not far from hence hath hid his head.

York.
It would beseem the Lord Northumberland
To say ‘King Richard’: alack ^note the heavy day
When such a sacred king should hide his head.

North.
Your grace mistakes ^note; only to be brief,
Left I his ^note title out.

York.
The time hath been,
Would you ^note have been so brief with him ^note, he would
Have been so brief with you ^note, to shorten you,
For taking so ^note the head, your ^note whole head's length. ^note

Boling.
Mistake not, uncle, further ^note than you should.

York.
Take not, good cousin, further ^note than you should,
Lest you mistake the ^note heavens are o'er our heads ^note.

Boling.
I know it, uncle, and oppose not ^note myself ^note
Against ^note their will ^note. But who comes here? ^note Enter Percy.
Welcome, ^note Harry: what, will not this castle yield?

Percy.
The castle royally is ^note mann'd, my lord,
Against thy ^note entrance.

Boling.
Royally!
Why, it contains no king? ^note

Percy.
Yes, my good lord,
It doth contain a king; King ^note Richard lies
Within the limits of yon ^note lime and stone:
And with him are the ^note Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury,
Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a clergyman
Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn.

North.
O ^note, belike it is the ^note Bishop of Carlisle.

Boling.
Noble lords ^{note note},
Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle;
Through brazen trumpet send the breath of parley ^note
Into his ruin'd ears, and thus deliver:
Henry Bolingbroke ^{note note}

On both ^note his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand ^note
And sends allegiance and true ^note faith of heart
To his most ^note royal person; hither come ^note
Even at his feet to lay ^note my arms and power,
Provided that my banishment repeal'd
And lands restored again be freely granted:
If not, I'll use the advantage of my power
And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood
Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd ^note Englishmen:
The which, how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke ^note
It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench ^note
The fresh green lap of fair King Richard's land,
My stooping duty tenderly shall show.
Go, signify as much, while here we march
Upon the grassy carpet of this plain. ^note
Let's march without the noise of threatening drum,
That from this ^note castle's tatter'd ^note battlements
Our fair appointments may be well perused.
Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the elements
Of fire and water, when their thundering shock ^note
At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
Be he the fire, I'll be the yielding water:
The rage be his, whilst ^note on the earth I rain ^note
My waters; on ^note the earth, and not on him. ^note
March on, and mark King Richard how he looks.

Parle ^note without, and answer within. Then a flourish. Enter on the walls, King Richard, the Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle, Scroop, and Salisbury. ^note
See ^note, see, King Richard doth himself appear,
As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east,
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent
To dim his glory and to stain the track ^note
Of his bright passage to the occident.

York.
Yet looks he like a king: behold, his eye,
As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth
Controlling majesty: alack, alack ^note, for woe,
That any harm ^note should stain so fair a show!

K. Rich.
We are amazed; and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful ^note bending of thy knee, [To North. ^note
Because we thought ourself thy ^note lawful king:
And if ^note we be, how dare thy joints forget
To pay their ^note awful duty to our ^note presence?
If we be not, show us the hand of God
That hath dismiss'd us from our stewardship;
For well we know, no hand of blood and bone
Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre,
Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp.
And though you think that all, as you have done,
Have torn their souls by turning them from us,
And we are barren and bereft of friends;
Yet know, my master ^note, God omnipotent,

Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf
Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike
Your children yet unborn and unbegot,
That lift your vassal hands against my head
And threat the glory of my precious crown.
Tell Bolingbroke—for yond ^note methinks he stands ^note—
That every stride he makes upon my ^note land
Is dangerous treason: he is come to open ^note
The purple testament of bleeding war;
But ere the crown he looks for live in ^note peace, ^note
Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons
Shall ill become the flower of ^note England's face ^note,
Change the complexion of her ^note maid-pale peace ^note
To scarlet indignation and bedew
Her pastures' ^note grass with faithful English blood.

North.
The king of heaven forbid our lord the king
Should so with civil and uncivil arms
Be rush'd upon! Thy ^note thrice noble cousin
Harry Bolingbroke ^note doth humbly ^note kiss thy hand;
And by the honourable tomb he swears,
That stands upon your royal grandsire's bones,
And by the royalties of both your bloods,
Currents that spring from one most gracious head,
And by the buried hand of warlike ^note Gaunt,
And by the worth and honour of himself,
Comprising all that may be sworn or said,
His coming hither hath no further scope
Than for his lineal royalties and to beg

Enfranchisement immediate on his knees:
Which on thy royal party granted once,
His glittering arms he will commend to rust,
His barbed steeds to stables, and his heart
To faithful service of your majesty.
This swears he, as he is a prince, is just ^note;
And, as I am ^note a gentleman ^note, I credit him.

K. Rich.
Northumberland, say thus ^note the king returns:
His noble cousin is right welcome hither;
And all the number of his fair demands
Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction:
With all the gracious utterance thou ^note hast ^{note note}
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends.
We do ^note debase ourselves ^note, cousin ^note, do we not, [To Aumerle. ^note
To look so poorly and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
Defiance to the traitor, and so die?

Aum.
No, good my lord; ^note let's fight with gentle words
Till time lend friends and friends their helpful ^note swords.

K. Rich.
O God, O God! that e'er this tongue of mine,
That laid the sentence of dread banishment
On yon ^note proud man, should take it off again
With words of sooth! O that I were as great
As is my grief, or lesser than my name!
Or that I could forget what I have been,
Or not remember what I must be now!
Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to beat,
Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me.

Aum.
Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke.

K. Rich.
What must the king do now? must he submit?
The king shall do it: must he be deposed?
The king shall be contented: must he lose
The name of king ^note? o' ^note God's name, let it go:
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's ^note gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
My sceptre for a palmer's walking-staff,
My subjects for a pair of carved saints
And my large kingdom for a little grave,
A little little grave, an obscure grave;
Or I'll be buried in the king's highway,
Some way of common trade ^note, where subjects' feet
May hourly trample on their sovereign's head;
For on my heart they tread now whilst I live;
And buried once, why not upon my head? ^note
Aumerle, thou weep'st ^note, my tender-hearted cousin!
We'll make foul weather with despised tears;
Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer corn,
And make a dearth in this revolting land.
Or shall we play the wantons with our woes,
And make some pretty match with shedding ^note tears?
As ^note thus, ^note to drop them still upon one place,
Till they have fretted us a pair of graves
Within the earth; and, therein laid,—there ^note lies ^note
Two kinsmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes.
Would not this ill do well? Well, well, I see
I talk but idly, and you laugh ^note at me ^note.

Most mighty prince, my Lord Northumberland,
What says King Bolingbroke? will his majesty
Give Richard leave to live till Richard die?
You make a leg, and Bolingbroke says ay.

North.
My lord, in the base court he doth attend
To speak with you; may it ^note please you to come down.

K. Rich.
Down, down I come; like glistering Phaeton, ^note
Wanting the manage of unruly jades.
In the base court? ^note Base court, where kings grow base,
To come at traitors' calls and do them grace.
In the base court? Come down? ^note Down, court! down, king!
For night-owls shriek ^note where mounting larks should sing. ^note [Exeunt ^note from above.

Boling.
What says his majesty ^note?

North.
Sorrow and grief ^note of heart
Makes him speak fondly, like a frantic man:
Yet he is come ^note. Enter ^note King Richard and his attendants below.

Boling.
Stand all apart,
And show fair duty to his majesty. [He kneels down. ^note
My gracious lord ^note,—

K. Rich.
Fair cousin, you debase your princely knee ^note
To make the base earth proud with kissing it:
Me rather had my heart might feel your love
Than my unpleased eye see your courtesy. ^note
Up, cousin, up; your heart is up, I know,

^note
Thus high at least, although your knee be low ^note.

Boling.
My gracious lord, I come but for mine own.

K. Rich.
Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all.

Boling.
So far be mine, my most redoubted lord,
As my true service shall deserve your love.

K. Rich.
Well you deserve ^note: they well deserve to have,
That know the strong'st and surest way to get.
Uncle, give me your hands ^note: nay, dry your eyes;
Tears show their love, but want their remedies.
Cousin, I am too young to be your father,
Though you are old enough to be my ^note heir.
What you will have, I'll give, and willing too;
For do we must what force will have us do.
Set on ^note towards London, cousin, is it so ^note?

Boling.
Yea, my good lord.

K. Rich.
Then I must not say no. [Flourish. Exeunt. ^{note note}

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